


paperback

by ourlastbreath



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: ? - Freeform, Falling In Love, Implied Sexual Content, Lee Taeyong-centric, Lowercase, M/M, No Dialogue, Romantic Fluff, Slice of Life, Strangers to Lovers, Trainee Doyoung, Writer Taeyong, alternative universe, mentions of taeyong/jaehyun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:40:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23894701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ourlastbreath/pseuds/ourlastbreath
Summary: while looking for inspiration for his book, author taeyong finds it in doyoung who worms his way into his heart before taeyong even knows it.
Relationships: Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Lee Taeyong
Comments: 2
Kudos: 50





	paperback

**Author's Note:**

> nct edit of an exo fic i wrote in 2014 just because i really liked it at the time and it wasn’t as bad as i feared when i found it again. hope you like it!
> 
> my friend is running a [doyoung fic fest](https://www.twitter.com/doyochifest) starting in may! please support her?

when jaehyun breaks up with taeyong, over the phone and randomly in the middle of week, taeyong doesn’t mind because it’s just one of many finished chapters in his unwritten memoir. he keeps up a polite smile that the other man can’t see, assures him it’s fine, that he’s not upset with the breakup because he could see how jaehyun’s own life story was starting to metamorphose to include charming johnny who works at the coffee shop down the street from jaehyun’s job. there is no point in holding on. and taeyong himself can admit to losing interest in jaehyun so, even if taeyong doesn’t do anything but smile and hum, it’s a mutual breakup.

with the time he has to waste now that’s it’s not being used on spontaneous visits by a boyfriend, taeyong busies himself with the draft of his short story collection. he has a few that he really likes, a few that he hates, but that’s the life of a wannabe writer. he goes wherever his feet take him for inspiration — the park, the grocery story, the manwha cafe taeil works at, the nightclub jaehyun used to take him to all the time that reeks of sweat and lascivious affairs.

it’s there, at the club, that it happens.

surrounded by a cluster of drenched, gyrating bodies he finds himself pushed up a pretty, lengthy thing with hair the color of wild berries and eyes that look rounder than his and a soft mouth that slopes both shy and smug. they chuckle and yell out apologies to each other over the thumping beat of a hip hop song taeyong hasn’t heard in years. he knows there is a young adult novel on the market somewhere that starts with a scenarios like this: two strangers brought together by the aggressive push and pull of city nightlife. it’s probably a best seller.

unable (and many unwilling) to force his way through the crowd again, he takes interest in the man who appears just as content to dance with taeyong. he learnsthe man has recently moved in from the more countryside suburbs, a musician hoping the city will be what he’s looking for. apparently he has a friend who bartends at this club and he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t, that this isn’t his kind of place. it’s a little hard to tell when he loops his arms around taeyong’s waist and whispers his name in his ear, his mouth a light tickle.

when taeyong returns home after his hunt for writing material, his head is throbbing and he has one extra phone number in his contacts list under the name doyoung.

he meets doyoung at the club two more times because taeyong can’t say no when he asks. it’s not like he has anything better to do. at the moment his life is centered around his book drafts and the unwritten pages to his metaphoric memoirs. he writes doyoung into his life after their third time at the club together, after the chapter about his ever increasing rent and jaehyun and the cults who keep trying to recruit him in the subway station. doyoung wasn’t the kind of inspiration was thinking of when he first ventured into the club after the breakup and he didn’t plan on including him in his life story. sometimes, though, he can’t help but think of his smile or his laugh or the warmth of his body when they’re dancing much too intimately.

after a couple of weeks of late night conversations, small lunch dates when doyoung finishes practice with his agency, and the odd weekend spent curled up together on taeyong’s couch, taeyong seeks out advice about the light feeling that blossoms in his chest whenever he so much as looks at doyoung. taeil only shakes his head while kun, a writer friend, smiles and says it’s something he has to figure out by himself.

jaehyun tells him he’s stupid with a smile that’s painfully bittersweet. he asks about the guy messing with taeyong’s emotions and taeyong talks for what feels like days about doyoung. he probably doesn’t mean to, but jaehyun wonders why he never saw this side of taeyong when they were dating and taeyong can’t find an answer to give him.

into their third month, it seems like doyoung is staying at his apartment every weekend and taeyong wants to know why he doesn’t go back to the trainee dorm. he wonders if anyone knows about them, about how they always plan on watching movies but never get through the first thirty minutes before their lips meet, but he never brings it up.

taeyong’s not sure what to do one saturday when they’re ‘watching movies’ on his couch during the time taeyong thought doyoung would have vocal lessons. he wants to ask, but doyoung’s hands are curious beneath his shirt and it’s new, this sort of intimacy between them. arousal burns hot in his veins, and when doyoung palms him through his sugar stained sweatpants and attaches his mouth to the curve of taeyong’s adam’s apple, there’s nothing on taeyong’s mind that doesn’t start and end with doyoung.

when taeyong is laid beneath the other man, his mind explodes with colorful imagery and pretty, poetic words. he considers writing a romance novel because new chapters write themselves as he peels off article after article of clothing. the sweet exposition lingers in his mind as he tosses doyoung’s shirt somewhere to be worried about later, building in intensity as he loses his own and then some. fingers hooked into the hem of doyoung’s underwear, taeyong anticipates the climax of this story in a manner he hasn’t in years.

he’s always had a problem with staying interested in romance books. surrounded by so much cheap literature, taeyong finds it harder and harder to find one that’s engaging from start to finish. but doyoung is the best thing he’s seen in ages, with rose blossoming cheeks and smooth skin pulled over lean muscle. after novels, he wants to write poems. poems about this man and the rush of excitement that speeds up his heart and the heat of desire that feels like standing on the sun.

it’s perfect, unexpectedly so, and taeyong craves more — hopes there’s a sequel to this story. a trilogy or a saga even. and if the magic never wears off, taeyong will be satisfied with an open ending, one that leaves room for infinite possibilities between them.

for a short second, when doyoung kisses taeyong hard, steals the breath from his lungs like he needs it more to survive his orgasm, taeyong wonders how many stories they can write. he surrenders himself when, as they curl under the blanket with sweat cooling on their skin, doyoung whispers a declaration of love. he gives his heart back to doyoung and, for the first time, thinks there’s someone who deserves to have their name on his declaration page other than his editor.

after days spent writing and rewriting, taeyong gets the final okay on his collection of short stories. he goes through talks of cover designs, paperback or hard, script or print font. he’s prepared for all of that, but that doesn’t mean he’s any less tired when he gets off the phone with the publishing company, when he leaves a meeting with his editor and agent. doyoung comes over when he has the chance and sometimes when taeyong’s desperate, he meets doyoung in the area around his agency. he learns about the other trainees: a lively (annoying) kid by the name of donghyuck, another charming (annoying) lad named ten, a sweet woman named seulgi, among others. they all tease his blushing sweetheart, unstoppable even as taeyong pulls doyoung away.

doyoung’s agency finds out about their relation not even a month later. apparently a fan of an already debuted group spotted them together and posted about it on social media. taeyong wonders if there’s a young adult novel on the market with a scenario such as this and, for a moment, he doubts everything — wonders if their sweet, paperback novel is coming to an end. doyoung visits less often but they spend just as much time on the phone as always. taeyong wishes there was something he could do.

he learns those wishes are futile when doyoung shows up at his front door, already in tears and apologizing for something taeyong can’t understand.

later, after taeyong’s hysteria over every possible heartbreaking possibility, doyoung asks if he can move in, says that the agency decided to kick him out because he refused to pretend to be someone he’s not, that he’d rather give up a dream that could easily turn into a nightmare than give up taeyong. and taeyong can only laugh because not only is this the start to the next chapter of his unwritten memoir, it’s the end to the first book of their horribly cliche romance saga.


End file.
